Boxing up The Band

Upcoming Sept. 27 from Capitol/EMI:

Executive produced by Robbie Robertson, The Band's new career-spanning box set, "A Musical History," is the most comprehensive collection ever created for the group. Packaged within a 108-page hardcover book brimming with previously unseen photos and memorabilia are five CDs and one DVD documenting The Band's entire recording career from 1963 to 1976. Among the set's 111 audio and video tracks are 37 previously unreleased recordings and filmed clips captured live and in-studio. To be released on September 27 by Capitol/EMI Music Catalog Marketing, this definitive collection features a cover painting of The Band by world-renowned artist Ed Ruscha and extensive biographical liner notes by the Grammy-winning writer Rob Bowman. In-demand producer partners Cheryl Pawelski and Andrew Sandoval, who also teamed for the in-depth restoration of The Band's original Capitol albums in 2000 and 2001, joined Robertson on the project.

"This is by far the most comprehensive, in-depth, and beautifully put together collection of The Band's musical journey," says The Band's Robbie Robertson.

Among "A Musical History's" previously unreleased audio tracks are live and studio recordings The Band created with Bob Dylan and Ronnie Hawkins, as well as various song sketches. The DVD's nine film clips include rare and previously unreleased concert performances, a filmed studio jam, and three songs The Band performed on "Saturday Night Live" in 1976, never before issued in their entirety.

"A Musical History's" release concludes a comprehensive restoration campaign for The Band's entire Capitol Records catalog. In 2000 and 2001, The Band's original Capitol albums were remastered and reissued with bonus tracks: "Music From Big Pink" (1968); "The Band" (1969); "Stage Fright" (1970); "Cahoots" (1971); "Rock Of Ages" (1972); "Moondog Matinee" (1973); "Northern Lights-Southern Cross" (1975); "Islands" (1977); and a new "Greatest Hits" compilation was released.

By the late 1960s, The Band was one of the most popular and influential rock groups in the world, and the group's members shared an extensive collaborative history dating back to the late 1950s and early '60s. Between 1958 and 1962, the then-teenaged multi-instrumentalists Levon Helm (drums, vocals), Robbie Robertson (guitar, piano, vocals), Rick Danko (bass, vocals), Richard Manuel (keyboards, vocals, drums) and Garth Hudson (keyboards, horns) first performed and recorded together as members of the backing band for Ronnie Hawkins called the Hawks. In late 1963, the Hawks struck out on their own and became Levon & the Hawks, playing and recording under this name in 1964 and 1965.

In 1965, Robertson met with Bob Dylan in New York, just as Dylan was seeking an electric guitarist for his touring band. The Band was born, with all of the former Hawks backing Bob Dylan on the road from October 1965 through 1966 as he incensed audiences in the U.S., Australia and Europe, performing electric sets. Disheartened by the vocally disdainful 'folkie purist' audience response to their first plugged-in performances with Dylan, Helm left The Band in November 1965.

After the 1966 tour concluded, The Band woodshedded for the next year in upstate New York, often in the company of Bob Dylan, forging a highly original sound that in one way or another encompassed the panoply of American roots music: country, blues, R&B, gospel, soul, rockabilly, the honking tenor sax tradition, Anglican hymns, funeral dirges, brass band music, folk music, modern rock, fused and synthesized in ways that no one had ever thought possible before. Levon Helm re-joined The Band in 1967, as the group prepared to record their first full-length album, "Music From Big Pink." The Band's line-up remained intact until they disbanded in November 1976, following the live recording and Martin Scorsese's filmed documentation of their final concert for "The Last Waltz."

Released in 1968, "Music From Big Pink" received glowing reviews; a journalist for Life magazine wrote that The Band "dipped into the well of tradition and came up with a bucketful of clear, cool, country soul that washed the ears with a sound never heard before," and icons such as Eric Clapton and George Harrison extolled the virtues of the album in print. While it only reached the #30 slot on Billboard's album charts when it was initially released, over time it has become recognized as one of the most important and classic albums in the history of rock.

Between 1968 and 1976, The Band released seven albums, and two additional releases followed in 1977 and 1978. The aforementioned "Music From Big Pink" (1968) was adorned with an original folk art cover painting by Bob Dylan. The eponymous album "The Band" (1969) sailed into Billboard's Top 10 and is hailed as one of rock's seminal releases. "Stage Fright" (1970) was recorded at the Woodstock Playhouse without an audience (due to local government's worries about a potential fan rush on the town from the greater Northeast), and climbed to #5 on the album charts, the highest position any Band album would ever attain. "Cahoots" (1971) peaked at #21 on the chart. The double live album "Rock Of Ages" (1972) peaked at #6 on Billboard's album charts. "Moondog Matinee" (1973) was a collection of covers recorded in Bearsville and Hollywood which reached #28 on the chart. "Northern Lights-Southern Cross" (1975), which peaked at #26, was The Band's first studio recording of original material since 1971 (1974 had seen a studio album collaboration with Bob Dylan, "Planet Waves," and a live album from their subsequent tour, "Before The Flood"). "Islands" (recorded in 1975 and released in 1977) was The Band's final studio album, a collection of odds and ends they had not intended for a specific album. "The Last Waltz," filmed in 1976 by Martin Scorsese and recorded live with all-star ensemble of guest performers, was theatrically released with an accompanying 3-album soundtrack in 1978, capping The Band's original recorded legacy.

Although Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson and Levon Helm got back together and went back on the road in 1983 under the name The Band, without all five original members it was never the same. Wracked by demons for far too long, in March 1986 Richard Manuel committed suicide in a Florida motel. In 1989, The Band was inducted into the Canadian Juno Hall of Fame and five years later they were accorded the same honor by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. With the exception of Manuel, all of the former members of The Band have issued a variety of solo recordings over the years, enjoying successful careers as individuals. Sadly, Rick Danko passed away in his sleep on December 10, 1999.